Did You Know The Rolling Stones’ First US No. 1 Hit Was Written by Keith Richards in His Sleep?

Isn’t it a shame when our best ideas come right as we are falling asleep? It’s terrible when your head is on the pillow, and your eyes are relaxed, only to then be inconvenienced by a great idea that you have to get up to write down or record. Why don’t these great ideas come when we need them to, say at noon on a Wednesday? Who knows, but regardless, you seemingly can’t force inspiration and greatness, and one person who would attest to that is Keith Richards.

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We’ve all heard stories about musicians being struck with the inspiration for a song in a dream. As a matter of fact, that is where Paul McCartney got the inspiration for the No. 1 hit “Let It Be”. However, McCartney didn’t write the song in his sleep, but do you know who did write a No. 1 hit in his sleep? Keith Richards, as he penned The Stones’ first Billboard Hot 100 single “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in a slumber.

Keith Richards Claims He Doesn’t Remember Writing the Song

In Life, Keith Richards claims to have not only written the song in his sleep, but also recorded it. In the book, Richards stated, “I wrote ‘Satisfaction’ in my sleep. I had no idea I’d written it, it’s only thank God for the little Philips cassette player.”

“The miracle being that I looked at the cassette player that morning, and I knew I’d put a brand-new tape in the previous night, and I saw it was the end. It was just a rough idea. There was just the bare bones of the song, and it didn’t have that noise, of course, because I was on acoustic… But the bare bones is all you need,” added The Rolling Stones guitarist.

Following the unconscious writing of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, The Rolling Stones released the track in 1965. Following the release, the single peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and at No. 1 on the United Kingdom singles chart, their fourth No. 1 hit on the chart.

Is it impressive that Keith Richards wrote a song in his sleep? Yes, but also no, as his alive self didn’t write it intentionally. Although his unconscious self did, and that is certainly worth something. Regardless, this story proves that to be a great musician, you quite literally have to eat, sleep, and breathe music.

Photo by Ali Lorestani/TT/Shutterstock)